ATP World Tour 2012 Ready To Go

By Mike McIntyre

Hello tennis fanatics and welcome to the start of the 2012 season on the ATP World Tour!

While it was only a few short weeks ago that we last heard from our favorite tennis professionals, the stage is set for the debut of another exciting year in the sport we love so dearly.

Everyone with the exception of Novak Djokovic, will be looking forward to building upon their accomplishments from a year ago. How could Djokovic possibly do better than he did last season? The Serbian world number one had arguably one of the greatest tennis seasons of all-time in 2011 and will be hard-pressed to match that level of excellence in back-to-back years. There is no doubt who has a target on his back as the season begins.

With an end-of-year that was marred by shoulder problems and the loss of the incredible momentum that saw him win three Grand Slams, it will be very interesting to see how the Djoker begins 2012 both physically and mentally.

World number two Rafael Nadal ended last year with a Davis Cup victory for Spain, while number three Roger Federer went undefeated after the U.S. Open with a record of 17-0. Andy Murray sits at the number four position and typically starts the year quite strongly down-under. These guys are going to be hungrier than ever for the first Slam of the season.

Add to the mix a resurgent Juan Martin Del Potro, a fearless Jo-Wilfried Tsonga along with a slew of hungry Americans like Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick and John Isner and we've got all the right ingredients for another amazing year of tennis on the ATP World Tour.

The season begins with three tournaments in Australia, Qatar and India. Let's take closer look at what we have to look forward to.

 Brisbane International

Beginning right on New Year's day, the Brisbane International tournament was resurrected in 2009 after a fourteen year absence. Notably missing this year will be defending champion Robin Soderling of Sweden. The world's thirteenth ranked player has not played a match since he won the title in Bastad in his home country in July. Diagnosed with mononucleosis, he has already confirmed his withdrawal from the Australian Open. Unlike a typical physical injury, there is no way of knowing just how long this type of illness will prevent Soderling from playing on the tour. 

Instead, look for Andy Murray to lead the charge as the top seeded player. Murray will be looking to finally end his Grand Slam drought in 2012 and silence the numerous critics who feel like he should have already attained such an achievement at this point in his career.

Murray will be joined by other notable players such as Gilles Simon, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Marcos Baghdatis and Bernard Tomic in Brisbane. Veteran Tommy Haas is also in attendance and will be looking forward to a full season of good health no doubt.

Aircel Chennai Open

Stan Wawrinka made a great start to his season a year ago by winning the Aircel Chennai Open in India for the first time. His victory snapped a two year streak of Croatia's Marin Cilic hoisting the trophy there.

Both former champions will be back in the draw in 2012 and joined by the likes of Jankko Tipsarevic who was absolutely on-fire last season, Nicolas Almagro who is normally better-suited to playing on clay, and Canadian sensation Milos Raonic who was named the ATP's newcomer of the year in  2011.

Qatar Exxon Mobil Open

Also starting on January 2nd will be a tournament of equal ranking points but quite a bit more prize money in Doha, Qatar. Something tells me that extra cash incentive is the reason we might be seeing so many of the top players in the world present in the draw this year.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will both be there to begin their pursuit of the number one ranking. Add Frenchmen Jo-Wilfrid Tsonga and Gael Monfils to the mix as well as quality players such as Viktor Troicki,  Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko and you can count on some great matches in the scorching heat of the desert.

Check back with us at ProTennisFan in the next few days as we will have a full draw analysis of these upcoming events. You can also follow us on Twitter for regular updates as play begins.

Around The Corner: Cincinnati Masters

By Mike McIntyre

As the Rogers Cup is set to wrap-up this weekend in Montreal with the men, the draw for the second consecutive Masters 1000 event has just been released in Cincinnati. With the U.S. Open just two weeks away now, players will be looking to fine-tune their games and round into form for the final Grand Slam of the year.

How will Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray rebound after poor showings in Canada? The answer to that question has a lot to do with the draws they have received as well as how they deal with their mental and physical short-comings from this past week.

World number one Novak Djokovic will enjoy the benefits of a first round bye at the Western and Southern Open and gets the winner of American Ryan Harrison and Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela. The progress that Harrison has made this year has been quite positive and he is giving U.S. tennis fans some real hope as they continue to search for the successor to Andy Roddick. Harrison should get by Chela, a player whose game is never really that dangerous on hard-courts.

Djokovic also has Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils in his section of the draw. Both of those players made the quarter-finals in Montreal this week. Djokovic can handle either, especially evidenced by his 6-2, 6-1 beating of Monfils on Friday evening.

Andy Roddick makes his return to the ATP World Tour after some injury issues of late. Currently ranked 12th in the world, Roddick could see his ranking start to fall quickly if he cannot put together some results this summer. Roddick has not played since a Davis Cup loss to David Ferrer on hard-courts in early July. He will open in Cincy against Philipp Kohlschreiber, a tricky opponent to be sure.

Djokovic should be able to advance through this section but having too much success just prior to the Open could be problematic down the road. A player does not want to peak too early, although it seems that Djokovic has found a way to keep his magical results going all year long.

In the following quarter of the draw, Roger Federer is not going to have an easy run. While he was fortunate to draw Canadian wildcard Vasek Pospisil in Montreal, his first adversary in Cincy will be either Juan Martin Del Potro or Andreas Seppi. No offence to Seppi, but it would be shocking if he could get by the 6'6'' Argentine.

Federer will be pushed to the limit by Del Potro and could see his U.S. Open preparations seriously harmed if he's not on top of his game. Federer holds a 6-2 advantage in their career head-to-head, but Del Po has won the last two encounters.

Tomas Berdych is also in this section of the draw as the 8th seed, but you can never get your hopes up with this guy. It seems like a mix of quarter-final and semi-final appearances this year are all we are going to get out of the talented but enigmatic Czech. He hasn't beaten a quality opponent all year long, so I wouldn't expect that to change now. This guy must drive his coach nuts!

On the other side of the draw Rafael Nadal will try to get things back on track after a surprising second round defeat to Ivan Dodig. While Federer losing to Tsonga in Montreal was always within the realm of possibility, I don't think anyone really saw that Dodig loss coming for Nadal.

The Spaniard will play either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or a qualifier in his opening match. That should be the perfect prescription to get things going to him. A quarter-final match against Mardy Fish is a possibility for Nadal, although with Fish going deep in Montreal I wonder how much energy he will want to expend in back-to-back weeks.

Keep an eye on the talented Alexandr Dolgopolov who opens against Richard Gasquet in this quarter as well as Fernando Verdasco and veteran Xavier Malisse as a longshot who can still play the game quite well.

Finally, Andy Murray will try to find his form against the winner of David Nalbandian and a qualifier. Nalbandian can't seem to catch a break as he opened against Wawrinka in Montreal. Murray should be a good bet to dispatch of the veteran Argentine and hopefully the doubles action he saw with his older brother Jamie in Montreal will help him out here.

David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also in this section and are fantastic hard-court players who could go deep here if Murray is still working out the kinks in his game.

Of the top-twenty players in the world, only Sweden's Robin Soderling is missing in action.

My picks for a final four this week will be Djokovic vs. Del Potro and Murray against Dolgopolov. I don't see Federer getting by his first opponent and something just didn't seem right with Nadal while practicing or playing in Montreal this past week.

Let the speculation for the U.S. Open continue. It will be here before we know it!

Murray Crashes Out On Day Two Of Rogers Cup

By Mike McIntyre

Two-time defending champion Andy Murray was sent packing in his opening match at the Rogers Cup by big-serving Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Anderson pulled off the second top-ten victory of his career with relative ease as he advanced by a score of 6-3, 6-1 in only one hour and nine minutes.

Blame it on the media, myself included, for confidently predicting a top-four semi-final finish here in Montreal. Of course we should have realized that with five weeks off since Wimbledon, anything was capable of happening.

Murray said he has been training hard in Miami to acclimatize himself with the hot summer conditions that often accompany this time of year in North America. Instead today the weather was relatively mild with cloud coverage permeating the skies.

The Scotsman did not hold back in his own assessment of his play today. "I just felt very slow," he mentioned. "The game seemed to be going so fast. Yeah, I mean, it's happened to me already once this year. I've trained really hard to get ready for the tournament. I've always played very well here. Today I couldn't get anything going. I started both sets really, really badly which doesn't help against someone that serves like Kevin. I was down a break early. Yeah, didn't get anything going at all.

On the bright side for the world number four, he will be playing doubles here this week with his older brother Jamie. While normally merely using the doubles to hone his singles game he revealed that he always tries to put a bit more into his efforts when supporting his brother.

 "When I play with Jamie, I obviously want to try to win because that's his career, where he makes his money," Murray said. "Tournaments like this, there's a lot of big ranking points which aren't at stake at some of the other tournaments he plays. If we can do well here, it's really good for his ranking. I always try and play my best when I'm playing with Jamie."

They will open Wednesday against the all-Canadian duo of Erik Chvojka and Pierre-Ludovic Duclos. If all goes according to plan Murray can get the match play he obviously still needs while also helping big brother with his own career ambitions.

The loss of Murray opens of his section of the draw leaving 6th seeded Mardy Fish along with perhaps the 14th seeded Stan Wawrinka as the leading candidates to advance.

In other daytime action completed today, Richard Gasquet of France got things started off on Center Court by soundly defeating Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-2. The pair had a closely contested Davis Cup match a month ago where Gasquet had to battle back from being down two-sets-to-one, but things were much more routine today. Gasquet will next face Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil.

Canadian prospect Vasek Pospisil ranked 155th in the world had the second biggest upset of the day as he sent 22nd ranked Juan Ignacio Chela home early by a score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Pospisil was down a break in the third but managed to use the home crowd support to his advantage and claw his way back into things. Life won't get any easier for Pospisil as he will next face Roger Federer in the world number three's first match on tour as a thirty year-old.

Other completed results today go as follows:

Philipp Petzschner d. Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-2

Sergiy Stakhovsky d. Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 7-5

Michael Llodra d. Mikhail Youzhny 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)

Viktor Troicki d. Michael Yani 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

Michael Russell d. Albert Montanes 7-5, 6-2

Janko Tipsarevic d. Alejandro Falla 7-5, 6-1

At 8:20pm ET the night matches have all been postponed until Wednesday by constant rain fall.

Men's Rogers Cup Preview

Djokovic and Nadal at the Rogers Cup. Photo Credit Jennifer Knapp.

By Mike McIntyre

After a five week hiatus from the ATP World Tour, the superstars of the circuit are ready to make their presence felt as the Rogers Cup in Montreal is set to begin play on Monday.

Newly crowned number one Novak Djokovic was on site Saturday for a brief media appearance alongside Rafael Nadal to christen, oddly enough, some new green clay courts that Tennis Canada has built on-site. The courts will serve to aid young Canadian players develop confidence on a surface that they rarely succeed on.

Djokovic and Nadal will not be playing together in doubles as they did a year ago when the men played in Toronto. While they were ranked one and two in the world at the time, their rivalry has taken a more serious dynamic with Djokovic beating Nadal in their five previous encounters.

The draw is a tough one for just about everybody in this format, where players will be on court almost every single day. With rain in the forecast early in the week the potential for double-duty also presents itself.

In the top quarter Djokovic will begin the event with a bye followed by a difficult match potentially against Nikolay Davydenko who opens against a qualifier. While Davydenko has been a shell of his former self since returning to the tour following a lengthy layoff in 2010, he still has the ability to test any of the top players and has a respectable 2-3 career head-to-head against the Serb. 

Djokovic's maiden appearance in Canada in 2007 was a self-described key point in the Serb's ascension to the top of the game. There he beat the top three players in the world one after another in Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Speaking on his past success at the Rogers Cup, Djokovic said, "I have very nice memories especially from Montreal where I won the title in 2007 and in some ways started this great four years in my career."

Beyond Davydenko things do not get any easier as Juan Martin Del Potro is his likely third round opponent. Del Potro has steadily been improving since he returned from his own wrist injury which kept him off the tour for eight months in 2010.

Gael Monfils, John Isner and Viktor Troicki are all included in this very difficult top quarter in Montreal. An opening round match between the big-serving Isner and former Aussie Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis is sure to be one worth watching.

In the next quarter we find Roger Federer, a man who is going to be facing dozens of awkward questions about his birthday Monday, where he will officially break into his thirties. Never-mind the fact that the world number three has made the semis in Australia, the finals in Paris and the quarters at Wimbledon - he is sure to be hounded with queries about his inevitable demise.

Federer is eager to finish the year strong and cap it off with a Grand Slam just as he did in 2008. That year he had been unable to win a Slam as well by this point in the season, but finished solid in New York and then returned to form in 2009 by winning his first French Open and another Wimbledon.

He opens in the second round here in Montreal against the victor between clay-courter Juan Ignacio Chela and Canadian youngster Vasek Pospisil (who defeated the duo of Djokovic/Nadal last year with partner Milos Raonic in doubles).

In the third round Roger might have to deal with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga again in a rematch of their Wimbledon quarter-final. Bernard Tomic is also in the realm of potential third round opponents while Richard Gasquet is the likely quarter-final challenge for him. Eighth seeded Nicolas Almagro is the other player with a bye in Federer's quarter, but usually only excels on the red dirt of Europe.

In the other half of the draw we have Andy Murray and Mardy Fish receiving first round exemptions in their quarter. Fish will get the winner of Radek Stepanek (a finalist at the moment in Washington) or Feliciano Lopez. Murray will see either Pablo Andujar (a wildcard) or more likely big-serving Kevin Anderson. Given Murray's string of two consecutive Rogers Cups, I'd say he has the definite edge to emerge from this part of the draw.

This section is also littered with veterans like David Nalbandian (who won a practice set today 7-6(4) against Ivo Karlovic), and Juan Carlos Ferrero (seen practicing with Tomas Berdych). Other talented players include Mikhail Youzhny, Ernests Gulbis and Stan Wawrinka. The first round match to keep an eye on here would be Nalbandian vs. Wawrinka. Gulbis vs. Ferrero could also be entertaining while serve and volleyer Michael Llodra could give Youzhny some fits. 

Finally at the bottom of the entire draw is where world number two Rafael Nadal finds himself. He will open in the second round against either Ivan Dodig or Jeremy Chardy - a good way to ease back into competition. Nadal looked to be at times favoring his foot during a practice session with Juan Monaco earlier today. He will be available to the media on Sunday and we'll try to get some more info on that.

Nadal could have fellow-Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the third round while a quarter-final against Berdych, the 7th seed, seems possible. Berdych will have to contend with Alexandr Dolgopolov perhaps in round two and Gilles Simon in round three. Any of those three players could equally emerge to face Nadal.

Ok, if you're looking for picks here I'm going to choose the predictable route. How can you not after the way the top-four have been playing? Djokovic has been on fire all year long with the exception of his one loss to Federer in Paris, so he's almost a sure-shot to make it to the semis. Federer has a great draw and I'm certain he's itching for another crack at Tsonga. A Djokovic/Federer hard-court semi-final will be the dream of fans and tournament organizers alike here in Montreal. I think they'll get it.

On the other side, Murray's performance in the past in Canada and the lead-up to the U.S. Open is well known and should continue. Fish has played a lot of tennis this summer and might not be able to put in 110% with some lingering soreness from Los Angeles. I'd pick Murray over him even if Fish was feeling perfectly rested.

Nadal is giving me some doubts with his behavior in practice today. If his body holds up then you have to think he'll be in the final four as well, but if not look for Simon or Berdych to take his place instead.

Djokovic taking down Murray in the finals is the best you'll get out of me. Regardless, we're about to have a fantastic week of top-level tennis from the fabulous city of Montreal. Enjoy the Rogers Cup everyone and let the speculation for the U.S. Open begin!

Wimbledon Quarterfinal Preview

By Mike McIntyre

As expected the top four of Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray have advanced to the final eight at Wimbledon. If Nada's foot is ready to go I think we'll certainly see another Grand Slam where the top guys are left standing in the semi-finals this weekend.

Nadal (if healthy) should be able to deal with Mardy Fish. Although Fish took out last year's finalist Tomas Berdych in straight sets, he has a daunting 0-5 career head-to-head with the world's number one player.

A positive for Fish is that the pair have not faced each other in nearly three years and I think we can all agree that Mardy has come a long way in that time. He is truly deserving of being the number one ranked American and will move up to a career best of 8th in the world when the new rankings are released next week.

British fans must be content with the performance of their man Andy Murray. He played superbly on Monday in front of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and defeated Richard Gasquet in straight sets. Murray faces third-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist Feliciano Lopez who has been serving great during these championships but just came through a tough five set match victory against Lukasz Kubot. Lopez trailed by two sets but was able to claw his way back into the match and prevail.

Lopez is 0-4 against Murray and has only taken one of nine sets off him in their previous matches. This will be their first encounter on grass and I don't see how Murray will not be able to quickly dispatch his opponent in this one.

Roger Federer just made his 29th straight Grand Slam quarterfinal and appears to also have the upper hand against his next foe in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer leads their career head-to-head by a margin of 4-1, with the only loss being a tough three set affair in Canada back in 2009.

Federer lost his first set of the tournament against Mikhail Youzhny in the round of sixteen before correcting for a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory that took three hours to complete. A day of rest should put him back to tip-top shape against Tsonga.

Novak Djokovic meanwhile has also been looking quite solid on grass and takes on the surprise of the men's draw this year in 18 year old Bernard Tomic of Australia. Tomic becomes the youngest player to reach the final eight at the All-England Club since a man by the name of Boris Becker back in 1986.

Tomic, who made it through qualifying, had this to say about his improbably run so far here this year:

"I never thought I'd be here the second week, especially in the quarter-finals. What a feeling and what a tournament it's been for me. It's an unbelievable achievement. I've learnt a lot. It's a great honour to do it here in Wimbledon. I'm at a position now where I've never been happier. I'm looking forward to playing on Wednesday."

Djokovic has never faced the young Aussie before which likely benefits Tomic. Still, with only one loss all season long I expect that Djokovic will dispatch his challenger and advance to a meeting with Federer that no one more than he himself is looking forward to with more ambition.

Stay tuned to ProTennisFan for regular updates as the men's draw nears its penultimate match this coming Sunday.

Wimbledon Day One Review

By Mike McIntyre

No big surprises on day one at Wimbledon, although with the rain being ever-present there were several matches that never had a chance to take to the courts.

Reigning men's champion Rafa Nadal came through in straight sets against Michael Russell of the United States by a score of 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. The veteran Russell did give the crowd some entertaining points against Nadal including a couple of Boris Becker-like diving volleys but never really had a chance.

The hope of the host nation, Andy Murray, survived a first set hiccup and prevailed against clay-court player Daniel Gimeno-Traver 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0. With only one previous win at Wimbledon (in 2009 vs. Taylor Dent), many expected Murray to steamroll his Spanish opponent. Instead Gimeno-Traver came out ready to play and hitting a hard, go-for-broke forehand at the Scot from the opening game. Murray would recover and deliver three sets of tennis that was more in-line with expectations against an inexperienced grass court player like Gimeno-Traver. Still, the UK press will likely roast him for his first set failure.

Sixth seeded Tomas Berdych, a finalist a year ago, had no trouble dispatching aging vet Filippo Volandri 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the second round.

Other seeded players including Gael Monfils, Mardy Fish, Stan Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet all advanced in straight sets as one would expect.

The 30th seed, Tomas Bellucci went down to crafty Rainer Schuettler in a result that really should not cause any shock. Bellucci is known more for his clay court abilities while the 35 year-old Schuettler has played Wimbledon twelve times before and made the semi-finals here in 2008.

Canadian sensation Milos Raonic won his first ever main draw match at Wimbledon over lucky loser Marc Giquel comfortably, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-3. Many are expecting big things from Raonic on this surface with his booming serve and apt talents at the net. A third round tilt with Nadal looms and will have everyone watching very closely.

Other results of note include Phillip Kohlschreiber losing to Denis Istomin in a mild upset. Once promising American Donald Young went down in four sets to compatriot Alex Bogomolov Jr. and veteran Tommy Haas still has a ways to go in his return from injury as he fell in four sets to the man who once stole Andy Roddick's mojo - Gilles Muller.

With more rain on the forecast for tomorrow it could be another trying day for tournament organizers and players alike. Fortunately with the cover over Centre Court we are guaranteed some live action.

Here's the order of play for Tuesday. Check back with us again soon for more news either here or on our Twitter feed.

 

 

Wimbledon Men's Preview 2011

By Mike McIntyre

To me, the start of summer has always been christened by the opening day of play on the prestigious lawns of the All-England Club. As a child, school had just finished and my family and I would take that first week off and head to the East Coast for some beach time in Kennebunkport, Maine. Regardless of how sunny it was, I would usually find myself sitting in front of the television watching the opening rounds of Wimbledon, while my parents and siblings instead made their way to the ocean shaking their heads at my stubborn dedication to the sport I loved.

Growing up with the great Boris Becker/Stefan Edberg rivalry during the summers of 1988, 89 and 90 would forever ingrain a love for tennis within me that has endured to this day. Later, players like Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Tim Henman would further my affection for the magic that could happen during this famous fortnight. Today, as the tournament is preparing to begin, I find myself once more looking forward to the start of summer and the two best week's of tennis I could ever imagine.

Here then is our Wimbledon preview for 2011. We'll have a look quarter by quarter and amuse ourselves with analysis, historical data and all the potential marquee matchups that tennis fans look forward to watching as the draw unfolds. 

Nadal's Quarter:

Reigning champion Rafael Nadal has not lost a match at Wimbledon since the finals in 2007. He has won the last two times he has played the event in 2008 and 2010, while injuries kept him away in 2009. Nadal has just captured his sixth French Open title and will attempt to marvel the sporting world with the possibility of another back-to-back Roland Garros/Wimbledon accomplishment.

Nadal will have his hands full with the draw he has received although his first match against veteran American journeyman Michael Russell provides a nice opening act, followed by the winner of Pablo Andujar/Ryan Sweeting. Then things get tricky for the (current) world number one.

Canadian wonder-boy Milos Raonic is set to play Wimbledon for the first time and, with his serve and volley game tailor-made for grass court tennis, could cause some serious damage. In many other sections of the draw, Raonic would have been a favorite to advance to the quarter-finals based on his impressive arsenal of fast-court weapons. While he could still give Nadal a heck of a ride, you'd have to imagine that Nadal's experience will stave off this potential upset.

Juan Martin Del Potro, seeded 24th, has shown great results in his comeback from wrist surgery and is starting to make his way back towards the top ten. He should be around to face Nadal in the fourth round in another match that will push Nadal to his limits. The Argentine has never had much success on grass, failing to ever advance past the second round of Wimbledon, yet he has many of the tools to be successful on the surface. Regardless of past accomplishments, he is not someone Nadal will look forward to facing this early in the tournament.

A rematch of last year's final with Tomas Berdych could occur in the quarter-finals if both he and Nadal hold true to their seedings. Berdych had a fantastic tournament a year ago in making his first ever Grand Slam final and in dispatching Roger Federer in the quarters, but has since failed to make much forward momentum with his career progress. A first round loss at the U.S. Open last year was followed by the quarter-finals in Australia this year and then another first round loss at the French a few weeks ago. Even at full-tilt, Berdych has not troubled Nadal in years and I don't expect that to change if they meet again here next week.

Murray's Quarter

Flying under the radar is local favorite and whipping-boy Andy Murray. Murray had a breakthrough season in 2009 where he won six titles but a year ago took a step backwards as he only captured two titles and failed to claim his first major title as many expected he might do. This season started slowly for Murray but he seems to be rounding into form after a semi-final appearance on his least favorite surface of clay at Roland Garros and then in winning the Queen's Club title over Tsonga after dismantling Andy Roddick by an emphatic score of 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-finals. With all eyes on Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Murray has the perfect opportunity to steal their thunder this year at home.

Murray opens against clay court specialist Daniel Gimeno-Traver in what should be a quick and ruthless result for the world number four and he will have to wait until the third round before a real test against either Croatian Marin Cilic or Ivan Ljubicic. In the round of sixteen he could come up against Richard Gasquet who has made the semis of Wimbledon before and the quarters would likely bring him Andy Roddick who no longer seems capable of competing with the big guns. With low expectations this year, Murray might be able to deflect the scrutiny of the UK media machine and actually come up with the moment we have all been waiting for. A semi-final with Nadal could be epic.

Federer's Quarter:

The six-time champion must be ecstatic with his draw that has a birth in the semi-finals all-but assured. Unless Roger has his "George Bastl moment", he should be sailing through just as he did in Paris last month. A meeting with David Nalbandian in the third round will not hold the same luster it once did, as Nalbandian has been oft-injured and needs more time to return to form. John Isner could meet up with Fed in the quarters, or perhaps Mikhail Youzhny, but neither one will trump one of the greatest grass-court players of all-time. Truly it will have to be a semi-final against Novak Djokovic to put Roger to the test in this year's edition, but even then I think we're going to see the Swiss maestro back in the finals where he so often has found himself.

Djokovic's Quarter

Up until his semi-final loss to Federer at the French Open, the tennis world was completely fascinated by the incomparable play of Novak Djokovic who began the 2011 season with a 41-0 record and came within one victory of tying John McEnroe's record where he began the 1984 season 42-0.

With that loss, fans and media pundits alike (yours truly included) have suddenly tapered their expectations for Djokovic and have realigned themselves for the usual Federer/Nadal final prediction at Wimbledon.

The pressure to continue his streak is over, so Djokovic has a bit of reprieve form the spotlight, however he is less than 100 points behind Nadal for the number one ranking, which would be a first for him in his career. It will be considered a disappointment if Djokovic fails to make the finals but I don't think he can beat Federer if Roger is at his grass-court best and playing the same brand of aggressive and near-flawless tennis he played against him in Paris.

Djokovic should be able to navigate through the first few rounds with opponents like Jeremy Chardy, Marcos Baghdatis and Viktor Troicki on deck. A quarter-final against Robin Soderling could offer a great tilt in what would be their first grass-court meeting.

Overall it seems likely to me that the top four players in the world will advance to the semi-finals. If so, we would be treated to a second consecutive Slam where this has happened and that in itself is a great thing for tennis fans of the ATP World Tour.

Enjoy the opening rounds. Matches like Marcos Baghdatis against James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt versus Kei Nishikori and most importantly a rematch of John Isner and Nicolas Mahut should offer a great start to the tournament and to another summer of fantastic tennis.

Stay tuned to ProTennisFan for coverage throughout the event and feel free to follow us on Twitter as well for regular updates.

Here is the order of play for tomorrow:

Monday's Order of Play

 

Men's Fourth Round French Open Preview

By Mike Mcintyre

Half-way to the finish line and all of the main threats in the men's draw at Roland Garros appear poised to live up to their billing in Paris.

Top ranked Rafa Nadal survived his first five-set French Open match against John Isner and a third set hiccup against Pablo Andular in round two to advance with ease to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3. 6-0 route of Antonio Veic. Next up is unseeded veteran Ivan Ljubicic who upset Fernando Verdasco in straight sets on Saturday. While Ljubicic is a wily veteran, he stands no chance against the defending champion and will go down in three in their meeting I'm certain. While Ljubicic has defeated the Spaniard twice before, both of those meetings came on hard courts. Nadal will own him on clay to advance to the quarter-finals.

The Gilles Simon vs. Robin Soderling fourth round match should be a good baseline battle between one of three remaining French hopes and the two-time returning finalist from Sweden. Soderling leads their head-to-head 4-2 but the pair have never met on clay before. Expect a long match with Soderling likely prevailing to set-up a fantastic quarter-finals match against Nadal. Not a player Rafa is looking forward to facing.

After the finals in Australia, Andy Murray is still waiting for his "I'm Back" moment of 2011. Following the first Slam of the year he tanked in the first round of three consecutive tournaments. Back on track after a semi-final appearance in Rome where he had the chance to serve for the match against unbeaten Novak Djokovic, Murray can hold is own on clay and if his ankle holds up he should be able to dispatch Serb Viktor Troicki. Troicki is at an all-time high of 15th in the ATP World Tour rankings but I don't think he'll be able to pull-off the win against an experienced player like Murray. Murray leads 3-0 in their previous encounters although they have never met on clay and their last match was almost two years ago. Murray's health will dictate the outcome here.

 Moving along we have a surprise quarter of Alejandro Falla, ranked 127th in the world, against veteran dirt-baller Juan Ignacio Chela who has maintained a top-forty ranking even at the age of 31. At one apiece in their career against one another, this match could go either way. Ultimately unless you are from Colombia or Argentina you probably don't care one way or the other. The victor will no-doubt be taken care of by the winner of the Troicki-Murray match.

In the bottom half speedster David Ferrer will meet up with the acrobatic and unpredictable Gael Monfils of France. Should be a fantastic match that has five sets written all over it. Monfils has made the semi-finals here before while Ferrer is certainly capable himself and both have the potential to give their likely next opponent, Roger Federer, a tough go. With the year he's been having I give Ferrer the slight edge.

Federer meanwhile will feast upon his fellow countryman Stan Wawrinka in their fourth round encounter. Roger holds an intimidating 8-1 record against his former gold medal-winning doubles partner from the Beijing Olympics. Wawrinka came back from two-sets down to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win a tough third round match and even if he was well rested I doubt he'd be able to topple Federer here at a Slam.

In another surprising fourth round match, Fabio Fognini will face Albert Montanes. While Fognini is a bit of a journeyman, Montanes is a legitimate clay court threat. Montanes is unseeded but reached a career-high ranking of 22 in the world last summer. He hasn't been lighting it up this year but won two clay court tournaments in 2010. He has played Fognini four times in his career and won the three most recent matches, all on clay.

The winner above faces the unenviable task of facing the winner between Novak Djokovic and...well, does it really matter? With a 40-0 record in 2011, Djokovic should be able to deal with Richard Gasquet in their match. Fresh off a four set send-off of Juan Martin Del Potro, Djokovic fears no one. While Gasquet took out Federer recently in Rome and definitely has a talent level that could trouble any player on tour, Djokovic is almost untouchable at the moment. It would take a Herculean effort from a Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal to have a chance at ending the Djoker's impressive streak right now.

Enjoy the fourth round and stay tuned for more analysis and updates from us here at ProTennisFan. Feel free to follow us on Twitter as well throughout the event and beyond.

What's Wrong With Andy Murray?

By Mike McIntyre

After losing his third consecutive opening round match this past week in Miami, Andy Murray appears to be pushing the panic button. In an announcement confirmed earlier this week, the fifth ranked player in the world has parted ways with part-time coach Alex Corretja after a three year partnership.

While Murray is certainly in need of a shake-up, splitting with the former two-time French Open finalist as the clay-court swing approaches might not be the best move. Murray's game transitions well enough on all surfaces, but clay is certainly his least favorite.

One rumor that surfaced shortly after the coaching split with Correjta was that former world No. 1 Ivan Lendl has made a pitch to become Murray's next mentor. I cannot begin to describe what a terrible pairing that would turn out to be.

Aside from having absolutely no coaching experience, Lendl had been away from the tennis scene almost entirely since he retired. Back issues and a keen interest in golf have kept him off the court and we have not see him stay associated with the game in the same way guys like John McEnroe and Pete Sampras have. Simply put, Lendl is not in touch with the evolution the game has seen since he hung-up his raquet in 1994 nor does he have any input on today's crop of current players on the ATP World Tour.

Furthermore, Lendl's game itself is in total shambles as evidenced by his drubbing at the hands of an injured McEnroe at the end of February at the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden. After spraining his ankle in a pre-match warm-up, McEnroe was noticeably hobbling around the court and yet still managed to soundly defeat the out of form Lendl 6-3. A former eight time Grand Slam champion, Lendl could barely keep the ball in play. 

While Murray is undoubtedly looking to discover the secret formula that would allow him to win his first major, he needs someone who can bring more to the table than an impressive resume from twenty-plus years ago on the tour. He needs someone with insight into the nuances that exist in today's hard-hitting game. He needs someone who can offer sound scouting reports on all players within the top 150 in the rankings and someone who can put together tactical advice that can be practically implemented. Lendl, for all he accomplished during his career, is not that man.

Andy Murray can change coaches and bring in every former Slam winner who is still alive at the moment and it won't make a bit of difference until he takes a long, hard look at himself in the mirror. It is time for a pulse-check in order to figure out if he has the drive to fight through these current obstacles and find a way to persevere against his biggest problem - himself.

Routed in three Grand Slam finals has undoubtedly taken it's mental toll on Murray as he has been a total basket-case on the court since losing to Novak Djokovic in Melbourne in January. Always known as a monotonous bore during his press conferences, Murray is now starting to show the same lack of interest in his play on the court as well.

The three first round losses in-a-row to average players is inexcusable. Marcos Baghdatis defeated him in Rotterdam in early February 6-4, 6-1. Baghdatis had his best moment on the circuit five years ago when he made the Aussie Open final and has struggled with consistency and physical fitness ever since.

Murray was then beat 7-6, 6-3 by American phenom-in-stasis, Donald Young. It was arguably the victory of Young's career as he has been nothing but unattainable hype ever since he broke onto the pro-tour a few years back.

The worst loss of all occurred this past week in Miami as Murray was knocked off by Alex Bogomolov Jr. by a score of 6-1, 7-5. Bogomolov is a 27 year-old journeyman who often finds himself playing on the challenger tour and should likely not even defeat Andy's doubles-specialist brother Jamie.   

Murray can now move towards the clay-court season and hope that the change of scenery can kick-start a new chapter in his disappointing season. His record on the red-dirt was 7-4 a year ago, but he failed to advance past the quarter-finals of any of the four tournament's he entered on the surface.

Unfortunately I predict another two months of misery for Murray before he can head home in June to face his critics in the United Kingdom prior to a Wimbledon that will likely bestow upon him the most challenging and bitter criticism he has had to face in his career thus far.

Will Murray be able to dig deep and and turn things around to silence his growing list of detractors or are we in for what could be a slow and painful collapse from a player who just doesn't have the mental fortitude to make his stamp on the men's game? Stay tuned, as not even Murray himself can give us an answer to that question at present time. 

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Around The Corner: Miami Masters

By Mike McIntyre

After another dominating performance by Novak Djokovic in Indian Wells, the Masters 1000 level action continues this week in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who battled for the title in Indian Wells, both have a first round bye along with the other top thirty-one seeds. Good thing too, as the top two players in the world headed straight to Bogota, Columbia to play in an exhibition match on Monday. Nadal gained a small dose of revenge as he won that match 7-6(5), 6-3. Of course that result is meaningless as both players were no-doubt trying to conserve energy for Miami.

Nadal has a tough opening section of the draw in Miami and will face the winner between Kei Nishikori and Jeremy Chardy. Either way I would say this is a tough opening match that could test a tired Nadal. Both Alexandr Dolgopolov and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also in Nadal's quadrant of the draw and they could present a threat in the fourth round.

In the other section of the upper half of the draw are Roger Federer and Andy Roddick who could clash if they both progress through to the quarter-finals. Federer has a decent section to navigate with players like Radek Stepanek, Marcos Baghdatis and Juan Monaco present but not strong enough to threaten him. 

Roddick could see Marin Cilic in the third round but the defending champion should be quite capable of winning his first few matches. It is about time that Roddick showed us what he can still do on the ATP World Tour. If he doesn't come ready to play, the American veteran will likely find himself dropping out of the top ten in the rankings.

No longer even mentioned in the conversation of Grand Slam contenders, Roddick's attitude is perhaps what needs the most adjustment. Physically his serve and other aspects of his game have not changed very much, however his confrontational nature seems at an all-time high. His verbal abuse towards the chair umpire in his loss to Richard Gasquet in Indian Wells was obnoxious and immature and did not endear himself towards any of the fans that surely wanted to support their country's most recent slam winner.

In the bottom half of the draw we have a much tougher area of competition. Players like Robin Soderling, Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and of course Novak Djokovic are all going to be forced to battle within this section.

It will be interesting to see how Raonic reacts to suddenly being seeded and having more expectations placed upon him. He is now considered to be a favorite to move through the opening rounds. An Australian Open rematch against off-season hitting partner David Ferrer looms in the third round.

Soderling or Del Potro will likely advance to face the winner of the above mentioned match in the quarterfinals, while Gasquet and Wawrinka also linger. Look for Del P to continue his return towards the top ten as he showed us in Indian Wells that he is ready to resume his place near the pinnacle of the men's game. Following his semi-final performance last week he has shot up 39 spots in the rankings to his current spot of no. 51.

In the other quarter, Andy Murray will be hoping to awaken and display some skill for the first time since his straight-sets defeat against Djokovic in Melbourne back in January. The fifth ranked player in the world has failed to win a match since then. His recent inconsistencies should favor big-serving John Isner whom he could face in the third round.

Djokovic should not have to face any serious opposition until the quarter-finals so expect his eighteen game winning streak to make it to at least the big 2-0.

With the tour getting ready to switch to clay courts, enjoy this last big tournament on the pavement.